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Monthly Archives: November 2014

I love nature. I am a lover of animals. I happen to think that birds are adorable….except for the Noisy Miner Bird that is. During the few times I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying my lunch at the Botanic Gardens, the enjoyment was partly sucked out of it by one of these birds. They are scavengers! Swooping at my food, loitering around without any regard during the entire time that I am eating and only flying away after I “encourage” it to. Then of course I feel like the big mean human depriving it of food. But come on, processed food is not exactly nutritious for anyone let alone for birds with small stomachs!

Something random that I observed during the G20 and beyond: Australians and/or the Australian media hold an unexplainable (to me) affinity for the Obama’s – may it be the President or the First Lady. During the lead up and most definitely during the G20, I noticed a lot of attention put towards POTUS. He has serious klout around here. Then I remembered that back in 2008, when he first ran for President, I remember reading somewhere that he had a really high approval rating amongst Australians (second only to the Danes). Why that is, I couldn’t even begin to tell you because I’m perplexed myself!

Now, let’s be transparent here. If you were to ask me my political leanings, I would quickly declare that I am more of a Democrat than a Republican and had I been given the privilege to vote in the 2008 and 2012 elections, I would have voted for Obama. So really, the attention and respect he gets here in Australia doesn’t bother me. In fact, it makes me even more proud to be an American – because if you go back in history, and not very far back at that, you will find that the George W. Bush era was not exactly favorable towards Americans here in Australia. So having a President that is at least not the butt of all jokes is a refreshing change for the better. I will take it!

I’m sure the tagline “The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever” is going to be lost on most Australians who have no idea that the humble Twinkie nearly found itself instinct. In the six years that I lived in the U.S. I can count on one hand the number of times I ate (not enjoyed) a Twinkie. The first taste was such a novelty that I had to indulge in. The second time? They had it was a treat at work and it was the only sugary one there, so by default that doesn’t really count.

Now Swiss Rolls, those ones I would miss if Little Debbie’s ever went bankrupt. I am a chocolate fiend afterall, remember?

Brisbane Airport scone – not as good as others I’ve tried, but you win some, you lose some

You know what I missed about Australia that I didn’t realise until I moved back? Scones.

The humble scone. You can have it plain, with sultanas (raisins), with chocolate chip, with fruit, with whatever random extra the baker decides to add to it. Scone.

I am not really that particular about where I get my scones. In fact, the good ol’ inexpensive Coles or Woolies ones hit the spot just right…with ample amount of whipped cream that is. Plus strawberry jam slathered on a hot, hot, hot scone that’s freshly out from the oven. It’s like a warm hug in the form of baked bread.

Needless to say, I now crave scones after writing this post. Such is life.

Brisbane is one beautiful city, day or night. Sure, it doesn’t have the big, obnoxious lights of Times Square in New York or the harbor views of Sydney. But then again, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea (nor mine). Instead it has a gorgeous subtlety all its own. On any given day it will have twinkling lights on the Story Bridge or some random tree with a beautiful cover of tiny fairy lights. That’s far more enchanting to me.

Clearly, I am slowly falling deep in love with our new City*.

*Is six-months still considered new?

Her name is Dianne and she’s young, brilliant and very, very hip. She works hard, is playful and adventurous. This past weekend, we helped our new sister-in-law marry our older brother all the while sipping Mimosas in the hotel room while taking selfies. It was perfection. Giggles, reminiscing, trying to walk in high heels. I wouldn’t change a thing about last Friday, not one bit.

The G20 has been and gone and so did we. We left town Wednesday morning (before the chaos began) and got home this afternoon (before all the motorcades began). So yes, we have impeccable timing.

I couldn’t resist to take a photo op with my G20 peeps as we left Brisbane en route to Adelaide and the photo above was the result. I honestly couldn’t tell you how mad Brisbane got during the past 3 days because I was having too much fun to really care. The most I watched was about 2 hours of coverage on ABC after the Summit had ended and Tony Abbott, David Cameron and President Barack Obama made their summaries of the weekend. By all accounts, it seem to have been a success.

One thing is for sure, the media seems to have a bit of a love affair with POTUS. Every channel we turned to was either covering Air Force One, Marine One, The Beast or POTUS himself. At one point they even cut short David Cameron’s speech to go to Obama’s. Then while the IMF President was giving their speech, they had double screen and was showing Obama waving from Air Force One. You know, because we all need proof that he has indeed left the continent. Bless the Australian media.

So yes, G20 is done and life as we know it will go back to normal tomorrow. Mondayitis, unfortunately, does not take a G20 break.